Morning Brew Daily

The fitness industry has experienced irreversible change over the last year or so. It’s become abundantly clear that digital offerings are the future—we’ve gotten used to working out at home and guess what...we even like it. 

But before Peloton sold its first bike or Equinox launched its first app, there was a cohort of fitness business leaders making enormous bets on at-home exercise: digital fitness influencers.

Today on Business Casual, we’re bringing in one of the OGs of the fitness influencer economy, Cassey Ho—the genius behind the Blogilates empire and its millions of devout followers. You don’t want to miss it.

Happy New Year! I’m your Business Casual host, Kinsey Grant, and I’m popping in with a quick update on your favorite podcast (this one).

2020 was a year of changes for the Business Casual team, much like I’m sure it was for all of you. We went from 1 to 2 episodes a week, we started recording remotely with guests in far flung European cities, I launched a column, and you can now engage with us all over the socials.

2021 is bringing a few more major changes (for the better) to Business Casual. Listen to this update for more.

Last episode, we got a deeper understanding of fast fashion’s unfathomably negative impacts on the environment and supply chains across the globe. That was step 1—identifying the problem. 

In this episode, we get step 2—understanding what we can do about it. I’m bringing in Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert to speak about his experience leading a company steadfastly committed to environmental stewardship and worker protections...and still making money.

Because despite what fast fashion empires might suggest, there is a role for business to play in mitigating the negative impacts of consumerism. Don’t miss this one.

Want more Business Casual? Check out my weekly op-ed column. Sign up here and read my thoughts on fast fashion here.

We need clothing like we need food and shelter—it’s a basic necessity. But what if you knew that basic necessity was destroying the planet and failing to meet the needs of workers all over the world? Would you feel different about the way you buy clothes?

Listen to this episode for an honest look at the ways fast fashion—pumping out a near endless supply of inexpensive clothing that isn’t exactly built to last—has destroyed the way clothing is made, sold, and digested by the Earth. It’s not pretty...but it’s worth knowing. And our guest, style writer Dana Thomas, has all the insight you need.

You might never think of the apparel industry the same way again. Fair warning. 

Want more Business Casual? Check out my weekly op-ed column. Sign up here and read my thoughts on fast fashion here.

Young companies attempting to address our crippling mental health epidemic face a barrage of hurdles businesses with more traditional pursuits don’t—namely mass stigmatization and a serious lack of education around the core pain point they’re solving for: mental health issues.

But where there’s white space, there are founders seeking to fill it. And investors seeking to arm them with the most tools possible. Mental health and addiction recovery are no exception. 

Today on Business Casual, get a better understanding of mental health as both an industry and a journey from Stephen Hays, founder of What If Ventures (a fund focused on investing in early stage mental health and addiction recovery startups).

If you or someone you love is struggling with mental health, we encourage you to seek out professional help or find resources from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

It’s easy to buy something in a store—all it takes is the tap of a smartphone and you’re done. How come, then, buying things online is still such a clunky experience?

Today on Business Casual, we’re investigating why online retail has been so slow to innovate with Domm Holland, co-founder and CEO of Fast (aka “world’s fastest online login and checkout platform”). Because unless retailers can learn to try new tech things, they’ll lose customers to the dreaded cart abandonment.

And that has major repercussions. Listen to this episode to understand why.

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Check out the first episode of Morning Brew's podcast with Fidelity, Fresh Invest.

Morning Brew’s CEO, Alex Lieberman, is many things: A founder, a media mogul (his words), and as of late, a young investor with a lot of questions. So he’s sitting down with the best and brightest from Fidelity to tackle some of the biggest questions on the minds of young investors today. 

From market shifts to the future of work, these conversations break down the current financial climate, what it means to you as an investor, and actionable steps you can take when it comes to managing your money.

You might not know it, but the video gaming industry has long been the harbinger of life-changing, widespread tech we almost always take for granted.

Now that the gaming industry has gone all in on metaverses—the alternate realities built online complete with social experiences and their own economies—what does it mean for the future of consumer tech? 

If you’ve ever pondered a future in which your online life is just as rich and fulfilled as your IRL one...which it probably will be in due time...listen to this episode with gaming expert and consumer tech investor Ethan Kurzweil, partner at Bessemer.

This is a good one. Don’t miss it.

Check out more about Remote Works

By some estimates, there will be about 3 billion gamers worldwide by 2023. For comparison, Netflix has 170 million subscribers globally.

It’s clear: Gaming is the streaming wars winner we’re not talking about. In our attention economy, video games have virtually endless potential to keep us enraptured. But the business models and tech standards that have long governed the gaming world are in flux.

Listen to today’s episode with Larry Hryb, Director of Programming for Microsoft’s Xbox Live, for a complete picture of how the gaming space has shifted with its consumers, why competition matters and doesn’t matter, and when next-gen tech will start infiltrating your life, gamer or not.

Like any gold rush opportunity, legal marijuana will have fewer success stories than it will tales of failure. So how do we determine which entrepreneurs might come out on top?

That’s one of the questions we’re answering on this episode of Business Casual with Bruce Linton, ex-CEO of Canopy Growth Corporation and one of the most widely regarded cannabis entrepreneurs around.

If you’ve ever wanted to know more about the importance of marijuana regulation for consumers and entrepreneurs, decipher what makes a good or bad cannabis business opportunity, or—stick with us here—understand how the nascent marijuana industry isn’t all that different from Amazon...this episode is for you.

Plus, you’ll hear what Bruce considers the “single worst economic advantage provided to U.S. entrepreneurs in the last hundred years.”

Check out more about Remote Works